Trapped on Prom Night
by CleverCover
Summary: They are stuck in a room...alone...well it isn't so bad. Arnold sees the true Helga for the first time. Well until Helga loses control of her mouth, I guess. Then it just gets weird for him. This could be seen as sort of a prequel to my other story.


Disclaimer: Nope, I still don't own any of the Hey Arnold! world. 'yells at lawyers' You don't need to rub it in!

Trapped on Prom Night

It's been four years since the FTI incident came and left in the neighborhood. The topic has been pretty much forgotten except between a boy and a girl who had a sort of episode on top of the building. Along with the forgotten memories, Helga changed over the years, making her a more pleasant person to be around. When Rhonda says so, you know it has to be true considering their past relations. Now, it's prom night as the old gang graduates from middle school. This scene focuses on Arnold and Helga. Currently, it's 7:00 p.m. in Hillwood Middle School's gymnasium.

Helga's POV

Why, why, why is all I ask. Why is Arnold still chasing after Lila only to hear the same phrase over and over again? Why, to my complete horror, is Arnie, Arnold's country cousin, still chasing ME! I thought I told him to buzz off at least ten times. You can tell him and Arnold are related. More importantly, why did I allow Phoebe to drag me to the eighth grade graduation prom? Was it because she's grown even more on me or was it the hope that Arnold will realize what happened on the FTI building wasn't a heat-of–the-moment-thing? Whatever it was has caused me to sit at this table with Phoebe and Gerald for the last half hour. I memorized their outfits. Phoebe wears a purple dress, lily corsage, jade crystal necklace, purple high heels and her hair in a bun. Gerald wears ordinary black tux, black shoes, gold wristwatch, and his hair was cut. All I can say is about time. Wait, now I'm playing with a ball of lint. I must be bored. Uh, oh Arnie's coming. I'll just leave the two lovebirds alone and go to the roof. Not like they'll miss me…

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Arnold's POV

How many times have I heard the 'I like you Arnold, not like you like you.' line? At least a thousand times, right? Why can't she just dance one simple number with me? We don't even have to be close. Is it that hard? Am I that repelling? I'll just slink away to Gerald and sulk a bit. I know I'm supposed to be optimistic and happy, but after four years of chasing a girl and getting rejected each time, it's hard to constantly seem okay.

"Hey buddy. How's it going? Did you finally get Lila to dance with you?" Gerald looked up from his cup.

"Nope. She used that line again. I don't think I'll ever be able to dance with her at this rate." I sighed, flopping down on a chair.

"Well Arnold, there are a great number of other girls would love the chance to dance with you." Phoebe finally looked up from Gerald.

"Yeah and can you name one?" I looked at her. Her smile was weirdly defiant in a way.

"No, I won't tell. You can find out on your own." She played with her corsage.

"I'm going to the roof for some air. I'll see you two later." I stood up and headed towards the stair door.

"Hey, if you see HELGA, could you tell me where she went?" Phoebe called.

"Yeah, sure." I called back. I wonder why she stressed Helga's name…Then I thought 'Helga's here?' (A.N: Arnold's moment where he shows just how dense he is.)

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Helga's POV

Tonight looks so peaceful, so bright, so joyful. Too bad I can't join in on all the happiness. I can't believe I came and Bob spent all that money on this stupid dress. I don't even like the big, poofy thing, but it looked liked a 'prom queen's dress'. Yes, he bought it in the hopes I would be prom queen like Olga. I heard the whole story, but only paid attention at some parts. I swear I wanted to hurl right there, but he would have just begun the whole thing again. I don't even have as nearly friends as she did. Does she even remember those people? Probably not. Anyway, isn't prom supposed to be when you pull a Cinderella and live happily ever after with the boy of your dreams? Then why is he making goo-goo eyes at another girl who constantly, might I add, rejects him? I guess I just have to deal and will stay here, for the rest of the prom…

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Arnold's POV

I made it up the stairs. Damn building needs an elevator. When I opened the door, my heart stopped. I swear I saw the most beautiful girl standing at the edge of the building. She looked like an angel, in her long white dress and her blonde, radiant hair flowing in the breeze. I couldn't move. Then I heard her voice…

"Crimeny, it so bright with all those damn lights." her arm moved up to her face.

I froze. That couldn't be Helga, but I had to be sure. "Helga is that you?"

She jumped and spun around. "Arnold! What are you doing here!"

"I should be asking you that very question." I walked up to her. Obviously, she wasn't afraid of heights.

She looked out into the streets. "I came to escape Arnie and because I got sick of watching Pheebs make eyes at Tall-Hair Boy."

"You know he cut his hair." I laughed.

"Old habits die hard." she shrugged. "Why did you come up here?"

Her voice was so soft I almost missed it. Why would she sound so soft like that? "Um…I came up for fresh air."

"Oh…" The sudden voice change worried me a bit. I would have said something had I not heard another voice down below.

"Oh, Arnie. No I haven't seen her, today. Although I do believe Nadine said she went up to the roof. Oh, see there she is, see? HELGA! HEY! DOWN HERE!" Rhonda called.

"Oh, crap." she turned around and looked at me, clearly asking for help.

"Follow me." I smiled and grabbed her hand. I heard her gasp before leading her down the other stairwell, to the basement and into a classroom. I shut the door and hearing a click on the outside. I waited a bit holding in a breath, patiently waiting for Arnie's squeaky shoes to go past. After about five minutes, we both let out a loud sigh. I turned back to the door and tried to open it.

"Um…it's stuck." I tried to shove the door again.

"Try pulling it then." Helga rolled her eyes.

"Okay." The door still wouldn't budge. "It's no good."

"I thought boys were supposed to be all strong and what not." Helga laughed and tried the door herself before giving up the hopeless fight.

"I told you. It was stuck."

"Stupid door. Okay, you should look for a crowbar so we can force the thing open and I'll get a flashlight. There should be one somewhere around here. Oh, don't bother with the light switch. It looks like somebody tore away all the wires." she walked to what looked like a teacher's desk.

"Yes, ma'am." I saluted and went to one of the desks. They were broken and written on. Gum was stuck to the bottom. Gross. I check the other desks that were in the same condition. The blackboard was dusty and the chalk hasn't been moved it what seemed like fifty years. I checked by the door. Nothing.

"Found anything, yet Helga."

"No, crimeny, you'd think there would be a flashlight hidden somewhere in this desk." she banged her hand on the desk, sending up a puff of dust. She began to cough.

"Let's check the closet." I chuckled.

"Fine-cough-what's so-cough-funny?" she walked to my side.

"Nothing." I got down on my knees while Helga checked the top. We rummaged for a while before I caught something.

"Hey, I found something." I called.

"Aaah!" she fell back. "Arnold! That's my leg!"

I immediately let go. "Uh, sorry, 'bout that. I didn't see you there. Hehe…"

"Perv…there is nothing here. I'm going to go sit on a chair. Over there." she pointed to the other side of the room

"Okay." I stood and dusted off my clothes. I sat in one of the chairs, across from her.

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Helga's POV

After thirty minutes or so of complete silence, he finally spoke. "There's gotta be someway out."

"Well, Mr. Optimist, there's a window, but it's too small for either of us to fit through." He startled me a bit.

"We can push it open and call for help." he tapped his chin.

"Sure and how do you suppose we explain our situation, without the part how I was running away from Arnie?"

"We can't without instilling pervertive thoughts in our young friends' minds."

"Wonderful…"

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Arnold's POV

Another thirty minutes went by when my stomach grumbled, very loudly I might add. "I'm hungry."

"Obviously." she sighed. I looked up to see her face. She was bathed in the moonlight that came through the window. I once again saw how beautiful she looked in her dress. The amount of dust around her didn't change a thing.

"Helga, you look really nice tonight." I smiled.

"T-thank you." she stuttered. Was that a faint blush I just saw? "Um, I have a donut we can split."

"Thanks, Helga." Give me one good reason why I couldn't see this side of her more often. I scooted to her side as she broke the donut and gave half to me. Then we ate in a more comfortable silence this time.

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Helga's POV

Two hours…two hours in this dusty classroom with no one but Arnold. Don't get me wrong, this is wonderful. But, now that I have him here, all to myself, I can't do a single thing. It's hard enough not to turn into complete mush as he sits here next to me. He looks so good in a black tux. He even styled his hair and he left his hat at home. Oh my gosh! He just laid his head on my shoulder. He's so soft…Aaah. Focus Helga. Don't turn into goo now. Wait until you get out. But he smells soooo nice. Like mint…Okay, this has got to stop if I want to keep another incident from happening…

"Getting comfy, eh Arnoldo?" I asked, hopefully smug.

"Sorry Helga. I'm getting tired. It's hard to stay awake." he yawned and sat up. 'No don't leave!'

"Whatever." I was going to miss the feeling of his shoulder. "Why did you bring Arnie here anyways?" I asked.

"He asked to come and be that one guest I could bring. He said he was meeting someone special." he chuckled. "I didn't think that someone was you. Of course I should have known since you're the only one he has eyes for."

"He just can't take a hint can he? I told him to buzz off and he still comes chasing after me. There are other girls who would love to date him. I'm just not one of those girls." I smiled. It sounded like another foot-ball headed boy.

"I know how he feels." he said darkly. Ooh, thinking of Lila, eh, lover boy. I must have hit a bit too close to home with that one. "Can we drop the subject for now?"

"Yeah, sure." I sighed. If he realized it, then why does he continue chasing her?

"You know someone should have noticed our disappearance by now." Arnold stood.

"You think if we yell and scream someone will hear us?" I looked up.

"What about Arnie's feelings? What will he think?" he asked.

"To hell with what he thinks. We need to get out of here. This dusty classroom isn't helping my sinuses at all."

We began calling out for anyone. I stopped and tried to open up the window. Just my luck it was too high and there wasn't even a ruler in the room. Arnold tried stacking desks, but that only got him and me a sore butt. I wanted to just smash the thing with my white shoe, but Arnold would have none of that. In the end, we gave up and tried just calling out until our voices grew hoarse.

'This is all your fault.' I thought I thought in my head.

"What do you mean 'this is all my fault'?" he demanded. I've gotta stop thinking out loud!

"Well, if you didn't pull us here, none of this would have happened." I'm such an idiot, but I can't stop myself.

"Excuse me for trying to help you escape my own cousin who holds feelings for you, yet you clearly wanted nothing to do with him!" He was near yelling.

I will not bring Lila into this. "Not everyone needs your help, foot-ball head. I certainly didn't need it."

"Your facial expression said differently." Wow, the sudden voice change is creepy. Now, it's dangerously low.

"How do you know! I could have been asking where to hide. Not take me to some abandoned dusty classroom where the door doesn't even work and the one window that is there is so high and so small!"

"You didn't have to follow me."

"You grabbed my hand, what was I supposed to do?" I gave him my best glare.

"I shouldn't have helped you escape Arnie. I should have helped him find you. Is that what you wanted?" His voice rose.

"Frankly, I'm surprised you helped. His situation sounds a lot like yours, doesn't it?" I smirked, folding my arms. I thought I wasn't going to bring her into this. I guess mouth and mind don't work **together**!

"You know what, fine. I'll just sit over there and you can stay over here, away from me, the guy that **forcefully** brought you here." Arnold stomped over to the other side, FAR away from me. His back was facing me.

Way to go, Helga. You made him run away from you. You're such an **idiot**! You'd better do something quick to make him feel better. "Look, Arnold, I'm sorry. What I said was wrong and I went way past the boundaries. Can you forgive me?" I hope that did something.

"What?" he didn't turn around. Damn it!

"I said I'm sorry and that I shouldn't have said that. I'm very grateful that you helped me escape your cousin and what you and Lila do is none of my business. I'm just frustrated, but I shouldn't have taken it out on you. Can you forgive me?" That came out of MY mouth!

"It's okay. I can sorta understand." Well at least he's looking at me again. "What you said hit a bit too close to home."

"The not everyone needs your help or the similar situation part."

"Both." he looked down.

"If it helps, Lila just doesn't see how great of a guy you are at the moment and everyone needs your help sooner or later."

"It does help, in some odd way. Thanks. You really think I'm great." he beamed.

"It's a compliment. Don't get used to it." I countered.

"Whatever you say, Helga."

"So, we're okay now?" I asked.

"Yeah, we're okay." He laughed. I love his laugh.

"Good." I smiled.

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Arnold's POV

Ten minutes after the end of our fight. I'm still not convinced that Helga said all those things by herself. There must have been something telling her what to say. Suddenly she yawns and goes to sleep. Just like that! Yet, she looks so cute in as she sleeps, so peaceful with a smile on her face. If I didn't know better, I would have never thought that it was Helga G. Pataki. Did I just think that? Then she begins to shiver in her sleep. As the only guy here, it is my duty to give her my suit jacket. I went back to my chair and sat down, immediately shivering. It's so cold in here. Five minutes later, someone stood next to me.

"Stop being chivalrous and take back the jacket." she sighed. "You're shivering."

"Then you'll be cold and we can't have that now can we?" I looked up and grinned.

"Fine." She grabbed my hand, pulling me up, and bringing me to a corner. She sat in the corner, not caring about the dust, and dragged me down with her. She draped the jacket over both of us. "There, now neither of us are cold."

"Yeah, perfect." I was very warm with the close contact. You know, this **is** perfect. It's the perfect time to find out what was really behind that moment on top of the FTI building. "Helga, do you remember the incident on the FTI building?"

"Huh, what incident?" She knows full well what incident.

"The one four years ago…when you were Deep Voice and we had to save the neighborhood from an evil psycho who wanted to build some huge mall for reasons I still don't understand. When we…uh…met on the top of the building?"

"Oh…that. I thought that was just a heat-of-the-moment-thing?" she looked away. I could feel her body grow stiff. She was sitting right next to me, after all.

"Well, what if it wasn't?" I smirked.

"And what if it was, hmn?" she countered.

"Well…" I began.

"Can we not talk about it? I'm too tired to even think straight let alone converse with you."

"Fine. Go to sleep." This conversation isn't done for good though. I will find out sooner or later. Then she fell asleep on my shoulder. I don't know, but that sure felt right. Her presence seemed to be calming for some odd reason. Don't ask me why, it just does.

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Gerald forced the door open and chuckled at the site of his best friend and Phoebe's best friend sitting in a corner together, jacket draped over them both. His arm was around her waist and her head was on his shoulder. It was so cute. You would have loved to see it! He pulled out the camera, taking a couple of snapshots. "Phoebe! They're over here!"

"Oh, good, you've found them." she looked at the pair. "Maybe we shouldn't wake them up."

"No, better us finding them than somebody else barging in." he slowly walked over to them.

"Wait, one picture." she pulled out her camera and took five pictures. "Okay, wake them up now."

"I thought you said one." He looked at Arnold's smiling face. "About time you got over Lila and went after someone who actually likes you, buddy." He poked Arnold. "WAKE UP, ARNOLD!"

"Huh…oh…Gerald! Helga, wake up. Someone came." he shook the sleeping girl.

She rubbed her eyes. "Phoebe, is that you?"

Phoebe's eyes twinkled. "Yes, Helga it is I, Phoebe, your rescuer."

Helga jumped up. "Oh. Finally! Someone came. Thank you! I swear, if you didn't come soon, I might have gone crazy from being locked up with foot-ball head for so long."

"Oh, really. From what I saw, you were pretty comfy." Phoebe walked with Helga to the gym.

"Pheebs, what you saw was…." Helga's voice trailed away.

Gerald turned to look at Arnold. "Had fun with your former bully?"

Arnold dusted off. "Yes, if you can believe it. Sure we had a fight, but it was mostly a pleasant evening."

"Tell me later. They are going to tell this year's prom queen and king. Phoebe and me are going to win." Gerald beamed.

"Yeah, sure. You know, I'm going to ask Helga to dance with me." Arnold looked at the wall.

"You'd make a cute couple." Gerald tried holding in his laughter. He was unsuccessful.

"What's so funny?" Arnold asked.

"Three hours ago, you were chasing Lila, and now you are asking Helga to dance. You sure can change fast."

"Being alone with someone for three hours can make you change an opinion or two. Besides, it's just a dance." Arnold said.

"Whatever man, go get her."

"Yeah, I will." Arnold and Gerald ran ahead to the gym doors, leaving the classroom door open.

Later, Arnie saw Arnold and Helga dancing together, his heart sinking. Lila saw them together and smiled. 'Way to go, Helga!' she thought. She then saw Arnie and came to mend his shattered heart. She smiled again, showing off all her teeth, they both got the men they were pining for, even if only for the night. Oh, and Phoebe and Gerald did win prom queen and king that night.

**SHIAGARI (finished in Japanese)**

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**It's weird but I think Lila constantly refuses him, so that he can move on and find love in Helga. She knows Helga loves him, but needs to get him to stop bugging her without spilling the secret. It isn't her fault that Arnold just doesn't see that. He's so dense sometimes.**

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